The Mark of True Intelligence

einstein

I posted a question yesterday on Posterous because, quite frankly, I needed help. For the life of me, I could not figure out what one of my professors was asking. I was confounded by the choice of language.

This got me thinking, “What is intelligence?” Is intelligence being able to construct sentences with multiple syllables that need an unabridged dictionary to decode? Or is intelligence something more? Is intelligence more … tangible?

If you say something or present an idea or concept and no one understands what you’ve just tried to communicate, who’s the intelligent one then? You may have established that you are knowledgeable in a particular area, but is that true intelligence?

Intelligence, to me, is communicating complicated truths at a level that everyday people can understand. Anything else is useless.

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Contributor: Justin Wise

I am a religious deviant who enjoys coffee, collared shirts, spending time with my wife and son, learning about quantum physics and creatively exploring the riches of the Spirit of Christ. Find more here: JustinWise.me
  • hmm that really makes me think now...

    intelligence for me is being able toi understand others and being able to respect and love them for who they are.
  • bw_
    Big words are shorthand. A way of saying something that has historical connotations. When I say "Epistemology" that is a loaded word that goes all the way back to the Greek derivative. When I use that word it suggests that I've done a little thinking around what truth really is and how it is acquired or if it really exists at all . It would take forever to define all of its parts in easy to understand language in order to make my point. As post moderns we have a problem with using more obscure words because it can be used as a power play. I would argue that the post modern critique of intelligence as a power game has eroded real understanding of intelligence and of God. All of this in light of your professors anomalous use of the word.
  • Jason Kramme
    I think intelligence is problem solving. I think that a lot of what we do today is one step removed from actually having to figure things out for ourselves. I have some friends that go to an alternative learning style school where all they do is creative problem solving exercises all day. I'm not sure how that will bear out in some standardized test, but I can tell you that they are much more situated to create 'new knowledge' than someone who doesn't learn that way.
  • Marc
    Knowing and communication of ideas to others is one aspect of intelligence, knowing what to do with those ideas and how best to put them use is also another aspect of intelligence which can easily get overlooked.
  • I agree!
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